Downtube Mini 2009 vs 2008

I'm new to foldies and just received a Downtube Mini. I ordered the 2009. I expected the stem to fold between the halves of the bike. Instead it folds to the outside, so the handlebars kind of stick out when folded. I'd appreciate it if anyone else has a 2009 and can shed some light on this. How can I tell whether I got the 2009 or the older version by mistake?

[QUOTE=mouweleen;8664213]I'm new to foldies and just received a Downtube Mini. I ordered the 2009. I expected the stem to fold between the halves of the bike. Instead it folds to the outside, so the handlebars kind of stick out when folded. I'd appreciate it if anyone else has a 2009 and can shed some light on this. How can I tell whether I got the 2009 or the older version by mistake?

I in the process of buying a 2009 mini for my wife. From what I know the 2009 folds between the halves of the bike. If it folds outside, it is probably the 2008. There is a photo of it properly folded on the Downtube site.

Tht's definitely the 2008. I also have it; I rotated the handlebar stem by 90 deg so it folds in between. Because I have a very long stem, I modded an adjustable stem to be a folding stem so the folded dimension is small. There is a thread on this mod somewhere...

I'm new to foldies and just received a Downtube Mini. I ordered the 2009. I expected the stem to fold between the halves of the bike. Instead it folds to the outside, so the handlebars kind of stick out when folded. I'd appreciate it if anyone else has a 2009 and can shed some light on this. How can I tell whether I got the 2009 or the older version by mistake?

Hi,
I just got the 2009 Mini, also. I thought it might be the wrong version as it seemed the handlebar stem only folded outside the fold. Finally got it to fold between the halves when I folded it first, as mentioned above. Hope this helps!

Your thread mentions that you replaced the seatpost on your Downtube with a Dahon seatpost -- could you please say a bit more about what you used and whether any modifications were required?

Thanks for sharing your depth of knowledge.

Mark

The seatpost is a Dahon telescoping one, which I bought from Thor. I have access to a lathe at work and I reduced the diameter to the Mini value (30.4mm?); an Easton EA50 400mm 27.2 seatpost I lengthened by glueing a portion of the telescoping post's inner part on to the end of the 400mm one, using a tube which fit snugly inside, and epoxy. Basically I wanted a stiffer seatpost than the original, and wanted the seatpost to be far inside the seat tube to prevent excess frame stress. The stiffness improvement didn't work as the Easton post's clamp seems to flex quite a bit.